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Australian medical regulator finally relaxes Covid gag order on doctors
Rebekah Barnett
December 22, 2023
A directive to health practitioners barring criticism of the Covid vaccines and rollout has finally been dropped by Australia’s medical regulator, AHPRA.
On 9 March 2021, AHPRA and the National Boards published a joint statement to help health practitioners “understand what’s expected of them in giving, receiving and advising on and sharing information about COVID-19 vaccination.” This has now been superseded by a general information page on vaccination.
The statement was controversial because it appeared to expressly prohibit health practitioners from disclosing to patients the risks and the poor quality (or total lack) of evidence for effectiveness and safety of the Covid vaccines. It also implied a ban on critising policies around the rollout, including workplace vaccination mandates.
Per the statement, “There is no place for anti-vaccination messages in professional health practice, and any promotion of anti-vaccination claims including on social media, and advertising may be subject to regulatory action.”
This was not an empty threat. In the first year of the Covid vaccine rollout (2021-22) AHPRA suspended 21 health practitioners and investigated many more in response to 1,300 notifications relating to Covid and the vaccines.
Investigations could be initiated for minor ‘offences’, such as posting political content and general information about holistic health, as in the case of Dr Sally Price. Suspensions were issued for more serious contraventions of AHPRA’s position statement, such as issuing medical exemptions to patients, in the case of Dr Mark Hobart and Dr Duncan Syme, or prescribing ivermectin off-label, as did Dr My Le Trinh (all three doctors remain indefinitely suspended).
https://canberradaily.com.au/australian-medical-regulator-finally-relaxes-covid-gag-order-on-doctors/